Language-teaching school's annual open house brings awareness to different cultures
There were West African dancers and students from other faraway countries showing art, diary videos and orating their stories to about 200 people Wednesday, April 16, at the annual Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center open house and art fair.
As planners had hoped, the event raised awareness of the SBOC, as many of the guests, in addition to parents and siblings of students, were from varying parts of Seattle and neighboring cities.
Guests of the annual fund-raiser were treated to a silent auction where student produced greeting cards and coloring books were for sale. Another room showed videos that students produced.
"People were quite moved because the videos were somewhat autobiographical," said Marjorie Lepley, a volunteer for Friends of the SBOC, an organization that put on the event and volunteers in supporting the school. "There was also a room we called the café where students were reading their own stories and poems in English and engaging with the visitors."
Lepley volunteered in the information room, where visitors could learn about the school and its efforts to teach speaking and reading English to English non-English-speaking students who come to the school as refuges from often traumatic and politically turbulent pasts.
In addition to teaching students English, staff at the school help students deal with medical, emotional or social issues that complicate getting an education. They also help the students make the transition to middle or high school. The school's population generally remains below 400, so that instructional and support staff can become personally acquainted with most students and their families.
The broad initial goal of the school is to get these kids reading at a third-grade level. Lepley knows that doesn't sound like much, but taking into account their backgrounds (about 30 percent of the students are Spanish speaking and another 26 percent are of Somali origin) it's a big first step into getting them prepared for high school and life in general in this country.
"These kids are representative of a challenge for our country and for Europe," Lepley said. "Any developed country will see a continued need to integrate refugees. There's just a big need and [the school] is five blocks from my house."
[[In-content Ad]]